User location-based management of content presentation

ABSTRACT

Features are disclosed for managing presentation of content to improve the content consumption experience as a user moves around or when there are multiple users. Based on user positions within a content consumption location and optionally on the layout of the location, presentation of content can be adjusted. The volume of audio content may be raised or lowered based on a user&#39;s position. Audio or visual content can be paused or stopped if a user leaves the location or the user&#39;s view is obstructed. When multiple users are consuming a content item, one or more users may have priority and any adjustment may be made to first improve the experience of the priority user. In some cases, no user has priority, and adjustments may be made to improve the experience of many or all users.

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices may be used to consume content, such as audio books,electronic books, television shows, movies, video games and music.Purpose-built media devices, including televisions, stereos, video gamesystems and desktop computers provide rich content consumptionexperiences. The media devices can have large high definition displays,high fidelity audio processing equipment, speakers and large amounts ofcomputing power. In addition, many media devices can be shared amongmultiple users. In a common scenario, a user may wish to view a movie orlisten to an audio book. The user may view the movie or listen to theaudio book on a purpose-built media device or collection of devices,such as a home entertainment system.

Many home entertainment systems provide wide viewing angles fortelevisions, and surround sound audio for use with the television,stereo system or some other media presentation device that producesaudio output. The various surround sound speakers of the homeentertainment system may be configured to produce an optimum or enhancedsound profile at a specific position or range of positions within aparticular area, such as a room of a house. Users within the range ofpositions may experience the benefits of surround sound to a greaterdegree than users outside the range of positions. A user may use aremote control or, in some cases, a personal media device to adjust thevolume and other properties of the home entertainment system in order toimprove the user's content consumption experience regardless of thelocation of the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Embodiments of various inventive features will now be described withreference to the following drawings. Throughout the drawings, referencenumbers may be re-used to indicate correspondence between referencedelements. The drawings are provided to illustrate example embodimentsdescribed herein and are not intended to limit the scope of thedisclosure.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an illustrative content consumptionenvironment including a presentation management system, a media device,and multiple user devices.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process for managingpresentation of a content item to a user in variable locations within aphysical range of the media device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of illustrative interactions between a userand a detection component tracking the user while a content item ispresented on a media device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of illustrative interactions between a userwith a user device and a detection component tracking the user while acontent item is presented on a media device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of illustrative viewing ranges for a mediadevice presenting visual content.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of illustrative listening ranges for a mediadevice presenting audio content.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are block diagrams of illustrative audio ranges andadjustments thereto based on user positions.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process for managingpresentation of a content item to multiple users in variable locationswithin a range of the media device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Introduction

Generally described, the present disclosure relates to managingpresentation of content to improve the content consumption experience asa user moves around or when there are multiple users. Aspects of thedisclosure will be described with respect to determining a visual oracoustic layout of a content consumption location, such as a room in ahouse. For example, a home entertainment system may include both visualoutput and audio output components (e.g., a television and surroundsound speakers). A user may provide or facilitate provision of roomlayout data to a presentation management system, which can use the roomlayout data to determine an acoustic or visual profile for the room,such as where in the room a television cannot be seen or where audiocontent may not be clearly heard.

The presentation management system may be integrated into one or morecomponents of the home entertainment system. If the presentationmanagement system is embodied in a separate device, the user may alsoprovide data regarding the capabilities and technical specifications ofthe home entertainment system components, or such data may beautomatically acquired (e.g., from a remote service accessible via anetwork connection). In some embodiments, rather than receiving roomlayout data from a user, the presentation management system may performan automated or semi-automated process to determine the layout of theroom. The presentation management system may then use the room layoutdata and media device specifications to determine a presentationconfiguration that optimizes or improves a content consumptionexperience of a user based on the user's position within the room.

Additional aspects of the disclosure relate to determining a user'sposition within a content consumption location, such as a room, andadjusting the presentation of content based on the user's location. Forexample, the presentation management system can cause a media device topresent a content item, such as an audio book, video, video game, musicfile, multimedia file or some other audiovisual content. Thepresentation management system can track a user during contentpresentation through the use of a camera, or by communicating with amobile device carried by the user (e.g., a smart phone). In someembodiments, the presentation management system may determine a user'slocation based on acoustic analysis of the user's voice and the dataregarding the layout of the room. Once the user's location isdetermined, the presentation management system can utilize the acousticor visual layout of the room to determine adjustments to thepresentation of the content (e.g., raising or lowering the volume, orpausing playback if the user is unable to see the visual display). Insome embodiments, the layout of the room is not used to determine anadjustment, but instead only the user's location and, optionally, thedistance between the user and one or more presentation components of themedia device (e.g., video screen or speakers) are used.

Further embodiments of the disclosure relate to adjusting thepresentation of a content item when there are multiple users at thecontent consumption location. For example, one user may have priorityover other users, and adjustments to the presentation of a content itemmay be implemented based on the location of the priority user. Inanother example, there may be no priority user, and the presentationmanagement system may implement adjustments that improve the userexperience of all users or the largest number of users.

Although aspects of the embodiments described in the disclosure willfocus, for the purpose of illustration, on a presentation managementsystem detecting users and adjusting the presentation of content basedon user positions, one skilled in the art will appreciate that thetechniques disclosed herein may be applied to any number of softwareprocesses or applications. For example, a personal mobile device of auser may determine the user's position and automatically adjustpresentation of content by a media device to improve the experience atthe user's current location. Various aspects of the disclosure will nowbe described with regard to certain examples and embodiments, which areintended to illustrate but not limit the disclosure.

With reference to an illustrative example, a user may set up a homeentertainment system in the user's home. The home entertainment systemmay have one or more audiovisual components, such as a television,stereo and surround sound speakers. In addition, the user may implementa presentation management system. The presentation management system cancontrol presentation of content via the home entertainment system. Forexample, the presentation management system can control playback ofvideo content on the television and audio content on the stereo based onwhere the user is in relation to the output components of the homeentertainment system.

In order to determine where the user is in relation to the outputcomponents of the home entertainment system, the presentation managementsystem may include or have access to various detection components. Forexample, the presentation management system may include a camera orother sensor to determine the physical location of the user. Based onthe user's current physical location and the location of the outputcomponents, the presentation management system may alter presentation ofa content item. If the distance between the user and the speakersexceeds a threshold or falls within a range, the presentation managementsystem may adjust the volume. If the user is not detected to be present(e.g., the user has left the room with the home entertainment systemoutput components), the presentation management system may pause or stoppresentation of a content item.

The presentation management system may use other techniques to determinea user's current physical location. For example, the presentationmanagement system may indirectly track the location of a user bytracking the location of a personal user device, such as a mobile phone,that is associated with the user. The presentation management system mayestablish a wireless connection directly with the mobile phone, such asa Bluetooth or near-field wireless connection, to determine the user'slocation. In some embodiments, the presentation management system maycommunicate with the mobile phone via a network connection, such as alocal area network (“LAN”) or the Internet. The mobile phone may utilizea global positioning system (“GPS”) component or some other means ofdetermining its current physical location, and then transmit locationinformation to the presentation management system.

In some embodiments, the user's current location is not tracked, butrather the user's experience is monitored. For example, a user may havea mobile phone. Mobile phones typically have audio input components,such as microphones. The mobile phone may execute application softwarethat receives input from the microphone and transmits information aboutthe quality of the input (e.g., clarity, volume) to the presentationmanagement system. The presentation management system can use thisinformation to adjust the presentation of the content item.

The presentation management system may also use data regarding thelayout of the location in which the content is presented (e.g., the roomof a house) to make finer or more targeted adjustments. For example, ifthe room includes various objects that may block a view of thetelevision (e.g., partial walls), the presentation management system maypause playback of video content if the user is detected to be at alocation in which such an object is between the user and the television.Layout data may also be used to adjust audio characteristics of contentpresentation. For example, a user may move into an adjoining room, butthere may not be a door between the room in which the audio outputcomponents are located and the adjoining room. The presentationmanagement system may increase the playback volume of a content itemthat is exclusively or primarily audio, such as music or an ebook.

The presentation management system may also use data regarding thefeatures and technical specifications of the various media devices thatit controls or has access to in order to manage presentation of content.For example, televisions vary widely in display size, resolution, andviewing angle. The presentation management system may use data regardingthese features to determine when a user is no longer able to see videocontent displayed on the television even though there may not be anyobjects between the user and the television. If the television that iscurrently presenting video content has a viewing angle of 120 degrees(60 degrees from orthogonal to the plane of the display) and the user iscurrently located at a position that is 75 degrees from orthogonal tothe plane of the display, the presentation management system may pauseplayback. As another example, if a television has a small, standardresolution display (e.g., a 20″ television with 480p resolution), thepresentation management system may pause playback when it detects thedistance between the user and the television exceeds a threshold.

In many cases, multiple users may be in a room or other area consumingthe content item. When two or more users wish to consume a content itemon a shared media device at the same time, the presentation managementsystem can adjust presentation of the content item so as to optimize orprovide the best experience for all users or the largest number ofusers. For example, the presentation management system may determine theposition of each of the users through the techniques described above.The presentation management system may the use the location data for themultiple users, and optionally layout data or technical specificationsof the output devices, to determine whether adjustments may be made thatwill improve the experience of the users. In some embodiments, users maybe prioritized such that adjustments are made to the presentation of acontent item to improve the user experience of the highest priority userfirst. The prioritization may be absolute, (e.g., one user always haspriority), relative (one user may have priority over another user butnot over a third user) or based on dynamic factors such as the contentitem, user interests, and the like. For example, a one user may beparticularly interest in sports, while another user may be particularlyinterested in music. When the content item being presented is asports-related content item, the user that is particularly interested insports may be prioritized such that adjustments are made to improve ormaintain the experience of that user first. When the content item beingpresented is music, the user that is particularly interested in must maybe prioritized such that adjustments are made to improve or maintain theexperience of that user.

Content Presentation Environment

Prior to describing embodiments of presentation management processes indetail, an example content presentation environment in which theprocesses may be implemented will be described. FIG. 1 illustrates acontent presentation environment 100 including a presentation managementsystem 102, any number of media devices 104 and any number of userdevices 106. The presentation management system 102 may be integratedinto a media device 104, or it may be a separate component.

The user devices 106 can correspond to a wide variety of electronicdevices. In some embodiments, the user devices 106 are mobile devicesthat include one or more processors and a memory which may containsoftware applications executed by the processors. Illustratively, theuser devices 106 may include mobile phones, personal digital assistants(“PDAs”), mobile gaming devices, media players, electronic book readers,tablet computers, laptop computers and the like. The software of theuser devices 106 may include components for establishing communicationsover wireless communication networks or directly with other computingdevices.

The media devices 104 can correspond to a wide variety of electronicdevices configured present content, facilitate presentation of contentor otherwise participate in the presentation of content. In someembodiments, the media devices 104 can include audio or visual outputcomponents, such as speakers or video screens. For example, the mediadevices 104 may include televisions, stereos, digital video recorders(“DVRs”), set-top boxes, video game systems, desktop computers, servercomputers and the like. In some embodiments, a media device 104 may alsobe a user device 106, such as a mobile media player that is optionallyconnected to speakers or a stereo. Some media devices 104 may includeone or more processors and a storage or memory which may containsoftware applications executed by the processors. The software of themedia devices 104 may include components for establishing communicationsover the a communication network. In addition, the software applicationsmay include multimedia applications which play or otherwise executeaudio programs such as music or audio books, video programs such asmovies or television shows, and video games. The storage of the mediadevices 104 may also contain copies of content to play on the speakersor video screens. The media devices 104 may be configured to receiveand/or transmit streaming media (e.g., audio and/or video content).

In some embodiments, the presentation management system 102 maycommunicate with the media devices 104 and/or various user devices 106a, 106 b via a communication network, such as a LAN. The LAN may includeone or more switches, routers, access points, modems, etc. The LAN maybe or include a wireless local area network (“WLAN”). In someembodiments, the components networked to the LAN may communicate over acombination of wired and wireless communication links. Due to the mobilenature and wireless connectivity of many user devices 106, the LAN maynetwork any number of user devices 106, and the number may change overtime or from minute to minute. In some embodiments, user devices 106 maycommunicate with the presentation management system 102 via a personalarea network (“PAN”), Bluetooth connection, or some other near-fieldcommunication link. In some embodiments the LAN may be replaced by suchconnections. For example, a presentation management system 102 may becapable of communicating directly with a user device 106 over near-fieldcommunication link without the need for a router, access point, or othercomponents typically used in a LAN. Similarly, the presentationmanagement system 102 may be in direct communication with a media device104 via a wired (e.g., Ethernet) or wireless (e.g., Bluetooth)connection.

The presentation management system 102 illustrated in FIG. 1 maycorrespond to a computing device configured to manage contentpresentation via the media devices 104. For example, the presentationmanagement system 102 may include one or more processors and a computerstorage or memory which contains software applications executed by theprocessors. The services provided by the presentation management system102 can include detecting the presence of users or user devices 106 andadjusting presentation of a content item on a media device 104 based onthe presence of the users and their physically location or proximity tothe media device 104. In some embodiments, the presentation managementsystem 102 may be coupled to or integrated into a media device 104. Forexample, a smart television or set-top box may include a combination ofsoftware and hardware which provide the services of the presentationmanagement system 102.

A presentation management system 102 may include a presentationadjustment module 110, a detection component 120, and various datastores such as a presentation rules data store 112 and layout data store114. The presentation adjustment module 110 may be a software module,executable by one or more processors of a computing device associatedwith the presentation management system 102 and residing in a data storewithin the computing device. The detection component 120 may include orbe in communication with any number of separate device or componentsthat may aid in detecting the presence and location of users. Forexample, the detection component may include a camera 122, a microphone124, a 3-D depth sensor 126 and a wireless antenna 128.

In operation, the detection component 120 may be used to determine thephysical layout of a content consumption area, such as a room. Forexample, a camera may be used to visually scan a room. As anotherexample, a microphone 124 may be used to capture an acoustic layout of aroom, such as by recording audio generated at different locations duringa configuration or setup procedure. A user may move about the room andgenerate sounds that are captured by the microphone 124. The capturedsounds, along with data about the user's location when generating thesounds (e.g., as captured by the camera 122) may be used to develop anacoustic layout of the room. Data regarding the visual or acousticlayout of the room may be stored in the layout data store 124. If thepresentation management system 102 is used to manage consumption ofcontent in several areas, such as a central presentation managementsystem 102 configured to manage presentation of media in severaldifferent rooms of a house, the layout data in the layout data store 114may include an indicator of the corresponding room or other area towhich the layout data applies.

During content presentation on a media device 104, the detectioncomponent 120 may monitor the location of the user or users, asdescribed in detail below. The presentation adjustment module 110 maycalculate or otherwise determine adjustments to make to the presentationof content in order to improve or maintain the user experience for oneor more users. The presentation adjustment module 110 may usepresentation rules from the presentation rules data store 112 in orderto determine the adjustments. For example, if the detection component120 detects that a user is no longer able to view a media device 104display, the presentation rules may indicate that the content is to bepaused, or the presentation rules may indicate that the volume should beincreased so that the user may hear the content even though the usercannot see the visual component of the content. In some embodiments,presentation rules may be defined and stored for individual users. Forexample, some users may prefer that visual content is always paused whenthe user can no longer see the display, while others would prefer tohave the volume raised if the user is within a range and able to hearthe content. In addition, priority data and personal interest data thatmay be used in multiple-user scenarios, described in detail below, maybe stored in the presentation rules data store 112.

Process for Managing Content Presentation

Turning now to FIG. 2, sample process 200 for managing the presentationof content will be described. The process 200 illustrated in FIG. 2 maybe used to detect a user and determine adjustments, if any, to make tothe presentation of a content item in order to improve or maintain thecontent consumption experience of the user. Advantageously, the process200 may be automatically performed by a presentation management system102, thereby obviating the need for manual processes to be performed bythe user to manage presentation and make adjustments as the user movesaround or through a content consumption area.

The process 200 begins at block 202. The process 200 may beginautomatically upon power up, upon initiation of content presentation, orit may be manually initiated. The process 200 may be embodied in a setof executable program instructions stored on a computer-readable medium,such as one or more disk drives, of a computing system with which apresentation management system 102 is associated. When the process 200is initiated, the executable program instructions can be loaded intomemory, such as RAM, and executed by one or more processors of thecomputing system.

At block 204, the presentation management system 102 can obtain dataregarding the physical location of a user. For example, the detectioncomponent 120 can detect the presence of one or more persons within apredetermined area, such as the expected content consumption area andpossibly surrounding areas, and can include one or more cameras 122,microphones 124, 3-D depth sensors 126 and/or wireless communicationantennae 128. The components of the detection component 120 can be usedto collect data regarding a user within the predetermined area. Thecameras 122 and/or 3-D depth sensors 126 can be used to collect facialscan data and/or body scan data of the user. The microphones 124 can beused to collect voice scan data of the user within the predeterminedarea, and the wireless antenna 128 can be used to detect the presence ofa user device 106 within the predetermined area.

The detection component 120 can use the one or more cameras 122, 3-Ddepth sensors 126, and digital signal processing techniques to detectthe face of a user within the predetermined area. Once detected, thedetection component 120 can collect facial scan data of the user. Thedetection component 120 can compare the facial scan data with facialdata of one or more persons that is stored within the presentation rulesdata store 112 or elsewhere. The stored facial data can includeindications as to the identity of the user. For example, pictures orother facial information can be included as part of the informationassociated with an account or profile of a user. Using the stored facialdata, the detection component 120 can match the facial scan data with auser profile. Presentation rules for the user may be accessed uponpositive identification of the user if the user is associated withpersonalized rules.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a camera 122 scanning a room for auser. The room illustrated in FIG. 3 includes a media device 104,seating, and may also include other objects typically found in rooms orother content consumption areas. The detection component 120 may, via acamera 122 or 3-D depth sensor 126 (not pictured), detect the presenceof a user at position 302. For example, as described above, the camera122 may perform a facial scan and the detection component 120 may usefacial recognition techniques to identity the user, while informationabout the layout of the room may be used to determine that the user iscurrently at position 302. In some embodiments, the identities ofspecific users are not important (e.g., when there are no personalizedpresentation rules). In such cases, the camera 122 may be used to simplydetect the presence and identify the physical location with in the roomof any person. In some embodiments, the detection component 120 may beconfigured to ignore the presence of pets, children, etc.

In some embodiments, the detection component 120 can use one or moremicrophones 124 and digital signal processing techniques to detect thevoice of a user within the predetermined area. Upon detecting the voiceof a user, the detection component 120 can collect voice scan data ofthe user. The voice scan data can be compared with one or more voicesamples stored within the presentation rules data store 112 orelsewhere. The samples can be from different users of the presentationmanagement device 102. Further, the voice samples can be part of theinformation associated with an account or profile belonging to the user.The detection component 120 can compare the stored voice samples withthe voice scan data. If the detection component 120 matches the voicescan data with a voice sample of a user, any presentation rulesassociated with the user may also be accessed. Two or more microphones124 may be used to triangulate or otherwise determine the position ofthe user within the room. In some cases, the microphone 124 may be usedin conjunction with a camera 122 or 3-D depth sensor 126 to determinethe position of the user.

In some embodiments, the detection component 120 can use a wirelessantenna 128 or a network interface (not pictured) to detect a userdevice 106 that is associated with a user. The wireless antenna 128 cancommunicate with the user device 106 using a variety of communicationstandards, such as, but not limited to, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMax, RFID,short wavelength radio, mobile telecommunication standards, etc. In someembodiments, the user device 106 can provide location data to thedetection component 120. If the detection component 120 determines thatthe user device 106 is associated with a particular user, anypresentation rules associated with the user may be accessed.

FIG. 4 illustrates one example of a wireless antenna 128 establishingcommunications with a user device 106 at various locations 402, 404.Through such communications, the detection component 120 may indirectlydetect the presence of a user. In addition, the detection component 120may collect location data from the user device 106. For example, theuser device 106 may utilize GPS components to determine its physicallocation, and data regarding the physical location may be transmitted todetection component 120 via the wireless antenna 128.

It will be understood that the detection component 120 can use any oneor a combination of the techniques described above, or other techniques,to determine the presence and physical location of a user. In someembodiments, the detection component 120 can detect the user device 106of a user when the user device 106 enters the predetermined area.Following the detection of the user device 106, the detection component120 can perform a facial scan, voice scan, and/or body scan of the userto improve the accuracy of the detection. For example, the detectioncomponent 120 may detect a user device 106 associated with a particularuser, but following a facial, voice, or body scan determine that theuser within the predetermined area is a different user. The presentationmanagement system 102 may then access the appropriate presentationrules, if any, for the user.

Returning to FIG. 2, at decision block 206 the presentation managementsystem 102 can determine whether a user is outside an area in which tobest consume the content, also known as a preferred consumption area.The preferred consumption area may be the area in which visual and/oraudio component of a content item are best consumed. For example, visualcomponents of a content item are typically best consumed when a user isrelatively close to a visual display, such as a TV, and within theoptimal or preferred viewing angle of the TV. TVs with larger screensmay have large preferred consumption areas, thereby allowing users to befarther away from the TV and still be within the preferred consumptionarea. Audio components of a content item are typically best consumedwhen in close proximity to one or more speakers, depending on the volumeat which content is being played through the speaker(s). Surround soundsystems that include 5, 6, 7 or more speakers may generate a preferredconsumption area that is not necessarily in close proximity to any oneof the speakers, but may be in a centralized position between or amongthe various speakers.

In some embodiments, the presentation management system 102 does notdetermine or consider a preferred consumption area. Rather, thepresentation management system may determine or consider the user'scurrent location and/or the distance between the user and one or moremedia devices 104 or presentation components (e.g., speakers, videodisplays) associated with a media device 104.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example room including a media device 104 with avideo display, such as a TV. A user within the viewing angle of the TVand relatively close to the TV, such as a user at position 502, may beconsidered to be within the preferred consumption area (A). If the userhas left the room or moved behind a partial wall that obstructs the viewof the TV, such as at position 504, the user may be considered to be inan area (B) that is out of the preferred consumption area. If the useris at or has moved to a position that is within the viewing angle of theTV but relatively far away from the TV, such as position 506, the usermay or may not be considered to be within the preferred consumption area(A). For example, if the TV has a small display or a low resolutiondisplay, then the user may not be considered to be within the preferredconsumption area (A) when the user is at position 506. However, if theuser is associated with presentation rules which state that the user cansee the TV adequately from a far distance, then the particular location506 may be considered to be within the preferred consumption area (A)for that user.

Audio content may have different preferred consumption areas than visualcontent. In addition, content with both audio and visual components mayhave multiple preferred consumption areas: one for the visual component,as described above with respect to FIG. 5, and one for the audiocomponent. FIG. 6 illustrates an example room including a media device104 with an audio output, such as a stereo or a TV. A user within aparticular range of the media device 104, such as the user at location602 within area (A), may be able to adequately hear the content item ata first volume level. Other locations, such as location 604 in area (C)or location 606 in area (D), are not within the preferred consumptionarea (A) for the first volume level. However, at a second volume level,such a volume level that is much higher than the first volume level, thearea (C) or the area (D) may be the preferred consumption area.Moreover, the location 602 in area (A) is not within the preferredconsumption area when the volume is at the second volume level becausethat volume level may be much too high for a user so close to the mediadevice 104. Also, as seen in FIG. 5, a user may still be within apreferred consumption range even if the user is another room or behind apartial wall, as the location 604, if the volume is at an appropriatelevel for the distance to the location 604 and any obstacles in the way.

Therefore, as seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, the physical location of a user maybe detected using the techniques described above and, depending upon thecurrent presentation parameters of the media device 104, the user may bedetermined to be within or outside of a current preferred consumptionarea. If the user is detected to be within the preferred consumptionarea (or at a satisfactory location or distance from the media device104), the process 200 returns to block 204. At block 204, the detectioncomponent 120 or some other component of the presentation managementsystem 102 may resume or continue monitoring of the user's physicallocation. Otherwise, if the user is detected to be outside of thepreferred consumption area (or at an unsatisfactory location or distancefrom the media device 104), the process 200 proceeds to decision block208. Note that if there are multiple users, the process described belowwith respect to FIG. 8 may be used.

The various areas (A) and (B) illustrated in FIG. 5, and areas (A), (B),(C) and (D) illustrated in FIG. 6, along with which presentationparameters, if any, make the each area the preferred consumption area,may be determined by analyzing layout data for the room. As describedabove, the layout data may originally be created by a user or by someautomated process at the time the presentation management system 102 isimplemented or installed. In some embodiments, the layout data may begenerated dynamically during each execution of the process 200, or on aregular or irregular basis. The layout data may indicate which obstaclesmay block a user's view of the media device 104, how large the room orother content consumption area is, and so on. The particularpresentation parameters to alter which area is the preferred consumptionarea may be universal among all users, or may be specified on auser-by-user or group basis.

At decision block 208, the presentation adjustment module 110 or someother module or component of the presentation management system 102 maydetermine whether an adjustment may be made to the presentationparameters of the media device 104 such that the user will be within thepreferred consumption area. With reference to FIG. 6, the user may bedetected at location 606, while the preferred presentation area may bearea (B). The presentation adjustment module 110 may determine that achange in the volume of the media device 104 will move the preferredconsumption area to area (D), bringing location 606 within the preferredconsumption area. The particular change in the volume may be calculatedas a function of the distance between the user and the media device 104or an output component associated therewith. In some embodiments, thechange in the volume may be based on features or technicalspecifications of the media device 104 or an output component associatedtherewith.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate an example of modifying presentationparameters of a media device 104 to bring a user within a preferredconsumption area. As seen in FIG. 7A, if the user is at position 702 andthe preferred presentation area is 720 a, then the user may bedetermined to be within the preferred presentation area 720 a. However,if the user were to move to another position, such as position 704, thenthe user would not be determined to be within the preferred presentationarea 720 a. In such a case, the presentation adjustment module 110 maycalculate or otherwise determine an adjustment to the presentationparameters of the media device 104 to move or enlarge the preferredpresentation area 720 a to include location 704. FIG. 7B illustrates theresult of such an adjustment. As seen in FIG. 7B, the updated preferredpresentation area 720 b now includes position 704. However, the updatedpreferred presentation area will not include the user if the user wereto return to position 702.

The adjustment to move the preferred presentation area 720 a to its newlocation and shape 720 b may be calculated based on layout data of theroom and the features provided by the media device 104. The media device104 in FIGS. 7A and 7B includes surround sound speakers at variouslocations around the room. For example, the surround sound system mayinclude the left-front, center, right-front, left-rear and right-rearspeakers shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. By altering the output of theindividual speakers, the optimal or preferred location to hear the soundproduced by the media device (e.g., the preferred consumption area) maybe changed. In a typical implementation, surround sound speakers may beconfigured so as to provide a preferred consumption area centered onseating that is directly in front of a media device 104 with which thesurround sound speakers are associated, such as a TV. When a user movesto a location 704 that is at a different seating location, the output ofthe surround sound speakers may be altered (e.g., the sound of speakersfarthest away from the new location 704 may be increased, while thesound of the speakers closest to the new location 704 may be decreased,and so on). In this way, the preferred consumption area 720 b for audiomay be shaped to include the current location 704 of the user, as seenin FIG. 7B, even though the audio components are typically configured toprovide the best user experience at a different location 720 a, as seenin FIG. 7A.

As described above with respect to FIG. 5, the preferred consumptionarea for a video component of the content item may be different than thepreferred consumption area of an audio component of the content item. Ifa user is outside the room or an obstacle is between the user and thevideo display of the media device 104, then an adjustment to thepresentation parameters of the media device 104 to include the user'slocation in the preferred consumption area may not be reasonablypossible. In such cases, the presentation adjustment module 110 maydetermine that there is no adjustment that will create a preferredconsumption area that includes the user. An example exception may be ifthe user is associated with a presentation rule that the user need notsee content items of the current type, at the current time, or at all.

With continuing reference to decision block 208 of FIG. 2, if thepresentation adjustment module 110 determines that an adjustment to thepresentation parameters will move or create a preferred presentationarea that includes the user's current physical location, then theprocess 200 can proceed to block 210 where the adjustment is applied.The detection component 120 or some other component of or associatedwith the presentation management system 102 may continue to monitor theuser's position to determine if further adjustments become necessary.

If the presentation adjustment module 110 determines that an adjustmentis not available to create a preferred consumption area that includesthe user, then the process 200 proceeds to block 212. At block 212, thepresentation management system 102 may pause or stop presentation of thecontent item. Presentation may be paused or stopped until such time asthe user is detected to be within the current preferred area, or theuser has moved to a position where an adjustment may be made to positionthe preferred consumption area such that it includes the user's newphysical location.

Turning now to FIG. 8, sample process 800 for managing the presentationof content to multiple users will be described. The process 800illustrated in FIG. 8 may be used to detect and identify multiple usersand their physical locations, and determine adjustments, if any, to maketo the presentation of a content item in order to improve or maintainthe content consumption experience of the users or a subset thereof.Advantageously, the process 800 may be automatically performed by apresentation management system 102, thereby removing the need for manualprocesses to be performed by users to manage presentation and makeadjustments based on user priority, different locations and the like.

The process 800 begins at block 802. The process 800 may beginautomatically upon power up, upon initiation of content presentation, orit may be manually initiated. The process 800 may be embodied in a setof executable program instructions stored on a computer-readable medium,such as one or more disk drives, of a computing system with which apresentation management system 102 is associated. When the process 800is initiated, the executable program instructions can be loaded intomemory, such as RAM, and executed by one or more processors of thecomputing system.

At block 804, the presentation management system 102 can determine whichusers are present. In some cases, multiple persons and/or animals may bedetected, but only a subset thereof may participate in the consumptionof a content item. For example, children and pets may be present and maymove throughout the room or other consumption area, but their presenceis not considered when determining presentation parameters. In othercases, some or all children may participate in the content consumptionsession or should otherwise be considered when determine presentationparameters. Methods for detecting the presence of children and pets andfor distinguishing between adults, children and pets are described indetail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/720,929, filed on Dec. 19,2012, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Inaddition to determining the applicable users, detection component 120 orsome other component of the presentation management system 102 maydetermine physical locations for each user, as described in detailabove.

At decision block 806, the presentation management system 102 maydetermine whether one or more of the users has priority over otherusers. Data regarding priority may be accessed in the presentation rulesdata store 114 or elsewhere. Priority may be used to ensure thatpresentation parameters are used to improve or maintain the experienceof the user with the highest priority. For example, a parent may havepriority over a child, a child may have priority over another child, andso on. Such priority rankings may be absolute; for as long as the childlives with the parent, the parent may have priority over the child. Insome embodiments, priority may be dependent upon various factors suchthat one user may not necessarily have priority over another user inevery situation. For example, data regarding user interests may beaccessed. The data may have been entered by the users or detected overthe course of time and multiple content consumption sessions. One usermay be interested in sports events, while a second user may not beinterested in sports but may instead be interested in audio books. Whenthe content item being presented is a sports event, the first user mayhave priority over the second user, while the second user may havepriority over the first when the content item is an audio book. In somecases, none of the users present may have priority.

If no user has priority, the process can proceed to block 808, where anadjustment to the presentation parameters is determined based upon itsapplicability to all users. For example, if the users are spread acrossa wide range of locations, the presentation parameters of the mediadevice 104 (e.g., absolute volume or relative speaker output) may beadjusted to provide the largest preferred consumption area or the bestfit among all users, even if the quality or consistency of presentationacross the entire preferred consumption area varies (e.g., there may behot spots or dead spots).

FIG. 6 illustrates several different physical positions 602, 604, 606with respect to an audio output media device 104. The presentationmanagement system 102 can detect multiple users at different positions,such as a first user at position 602, within area (A), and a second userat position 604, within area (C). The presentation management system 102can attempt to create a satisfactory experience for both users withoutprioritizing one user over the other. For example, the presentationmanagement system 102 may determine that volume X (where X is somemetric for measuring or setting volume) is optimal or preferred forusers in area (A), such as the user at position 602. A volume level of Zmay be optimal or preferred for users in area (C), such as the user atposition 604. In an effort to accommodate both users, the presentationmanagement system 102 may determine that volume Y should be used becausevolume Y may be the optimal or preferred volume for users in betweenareas (A) and (C), such as users in area (B). As another example, thepresentation management system 102 may determine that an average ofvolumes X and Z should be used (e.g., (X+Z)/2). Similar determinationsmay be made based on the positions of three or more users. In somecases, it may not be possible to provide a satisfactory experience to auser at a particular location. For example, if a user at position 606,in area (D), cannot hear the content presented by the media device 104regardless of which volume level the media device 104 is using, then thepresentation management system 102 can exclude that user from thedetermination described above. Similar techniques may be used todetermine presentation parameters for visual content.

Returning to decision block 806, if a user does have priority, theprocess 800 can proceed to block 810. At block 810, an adjustment may becalculated or otherwise determined which provides the priority user withthe best consumption experience possible under the present conditions(e.g., the preferred presentation area is centered on the priorityuser). In some embodiments, other users may be considered whendetermining presentation parameters, such that the user experience ofthe priority user is weighted most heavily but adjustments andparameters are chosen to provide a preferred consumption area that alsoincludes many other users. In some cases, an adjustment to thepresentation parameters that positions the preferred consumption areaaround or near the priority user is not able to be calculated ordetermined. In such cases, the process 800 may continue to calculate theadjustment that provides the priority user with the best experiencepossible. Alternatively, the process 800 may proceed to block 808,described above, in order to determine a best fit for the group ofmultiple users.

At block 814, the adjustments determined in block 808 or 810 may beimplemented. The process 800 may return to block 804 in order tocontinue to monitor for new users, users that may have left, and thelocations of each present user.

TERMINOLOGY

Depending on the embodiment, certain acts, events, or functions of anyof the processes or algorithms described herein can be performed in adifferent sequence, can be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g.,not all described operations or events are necessary for the practice ofthe algorithm). Moreover, in certain embodiments, operations or eventscan be performed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing,interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or onother parallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, routines and algorithmsteps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein canbe implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, orcombinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability ofhardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modulesand steps have been described above generally in terms of theirfunctionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware orsoftware depends upon the particular application and design constraintsimposed on the overall system. The described functionality can beimplemented in varying ways for each particular application, but suchimplementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing adeparture from the scope of the disclosure.

The steps of a method, process, routine, or algorithm described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be embodieddirectly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, orin a combination of the two. A software module can reside in RAM memory,flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, harddisk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium. An exemplary storage medium can becoupled to the processor such that the processor can read informationfrom, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative,the storage medium can be integral to the processor. The processor andthe storage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a userterminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium canreside as discrete components in a user terminal.

Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “could,”“might,” “may,” “e.g.” and the like, unless specifically statedotherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, isgenerally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, whileother embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/orsteps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended toimply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required forone or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarilyinclude logic for deciding, with or without other input or prompting,whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to beperformed in any particular embodiment. The terms “comprising,”“including,” “having,” and the like are synonymous and are usedinclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additionalelements, features, acts, operations and so forth. Also, the term “or”is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so thatwhen used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term “or”means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.

Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y and Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is to be understood with thecontext as used in general to convey that an item, term, etc. may beeither X, Y or Z, or a combination thereof. Thus, such conjunctivelanguage is not generally intended to imply that certain embodimentsrequire at least one of X, at least one of Y and at least one of Z toeach be present.

While the above detailed description has shown, described and pointedout novel features as applied to various embodiments, it can beunderstood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the formand details of the devices or algorithms illustrated can be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the disclosure. As can be recognized,certain embodiments of the inventions described herein can be embodiedwithin a form that does not provide all of the features and benefits setforth herein, as some features can be used or practiced separately fromothers. The scope of certain inventions disclosed herein is indicated bythe appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for managing content presentation, thesystem comprising: a data store configured to store computer-executableinstructions; and a computing device in communication with the datastore, the computing device, when executing the computer-executableinstructions, configured to: cause presentation of an audio book via amedia device; detect a first user at a first physical location and asecond user at a second physical location; determine a first adjustmentto presentation of the audio book based at least in part on the firstphysical location at which the first user is detected; determine asecond adjustment to presentation of the audio book based at least inpart on the second physical location at which the second user isdetected; determine a third adjustment to presentation of the audiobook, the third adjustment comprising an average of the first adjustmentand the second adjustment; and cause presentation of the audio book tobe adjusted according to the third adjustment.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the media device comprises the computing device.
 3. The systemof claim 1, wherein detecting the first user at the first physicallocation comprises establishing wireless communications with a personaldevice of the first user.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein detectingthe first user at the first physical location comprises performingfacial recognition or speech recognition.
 5. The system of claim 1,wherein the computing device is further configured to: detect that adistance between the first user and the media device exceeds athreshold; and cause presentation of the audio book to stop.
 6. Acomputer-implemented method for managing content presentation, thecomputer-implemented method comprising: under control of one or morecomputing devices configured with specific computer-executableinstructions, causing presentation of a content item via a media device;detecting a first user at a first physical location and a second user ata second physical location; determining an adjustment to presentation ofthe content item, the adjustment comprising an average of a firstadjustment to presentation of the content item based at least in part onthe first physical location and a second adjustment to presentation ofthe content item based at least in part on the second physical location;and causing presentation of the content item to be adjusted according tothe adjustment.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 whereinthe content item comprises an audio book, a video, a video game, a musicfile, or a multimedia file.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim6, wherein detecting the first user comprises establishing a wirelessconnection with a personal device associated with the first user.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the personal devicecomprises one of a mobile phone, a media player, an electronic bookreader, a tablet computer and a mobile gaming device.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 6 further comprising: detectingthat a distance between the first user and the media device exceeds athreshold; and causing presentation of the content item to stop.
 11. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising: detectingthat a distance between the first user and the media device is withinthe threshold; and causing presentation of the content item to resume.12. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the adjustmentcomprises changing a volume level at which the content item ispresented.
 13. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein theadjustment is based at least in part on a layout of a room, the roomcomprising the media device.
 14. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 6, wherein the adjustment is based at least in part on acharacteristic of the media device.
 15. The computer-implemented methodof claim 6, wherein the adjustment is based at least in part on a userprofile associated with the first user.
 16. A non-transitory computerreadable medium comprising executable code that, when executed by aprocessor, causes a computing device to perform a process comprising:causing presentation of a content item via a media device; detecting afirst user at a first physical location and a second user at a secondphysical location; determining an adjustment to the presentation of thecontent item, the adjustment comprising an average of a first adjustmentto presentation of the content item based at least in part on the firstphysical location and a second adjustment to presentation of the contentitem based at least in part on the second physical location; and causingpresentation of the content item to be adjusted according to theadjustment.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16,wherein the content item comprises an audio book, a video, a video game,a music file or a multimedia file.
 18. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 16, wherein detecting the first user comprisesobtaining audio input data of the first user speaking.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein detectingthe first user comprises obtaining a facial image of the first user. 20.The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein thefirst user has priority over the second user.
 21. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the priority is based atleast in part on a profile of the first user.
 22. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the adjustment is basedequally on the first physical location and the second physical location.23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein theadjustment is further based at least in part on a third physicallocation between the first physical location and the second physicallocation.
 24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16,wherein the adjustment comprises causing the volume level at which thecontent item is presented to be changed.
 25. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 16, wherein the media device is coupled to aplurality of speakers, and wherein the adjustment comprises analteration in usage of the plurality of speakers.
 26. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 16, the process further comprisingdetecting a child, wherein the adjustment is not based on the child.